The UN has expressed its positive attitude on the Bhasan Char project, which is meant to relocate 100,000 Rohingya from the camps in Cox's Bazar. The UN delegation, which visited Bhasan Char on March 17-20, has already submitted a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently. The 18-member UN delegation led by Fumiko Kashiwa, assistant representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, made the visit following an impasse of more than a year between the government and the UN regarding the global body's technical assessment of the facility.

The government has already relocated some 13,000 Rohingyas to Bhasan Char, an island under Noakhali district, from Cox's Bazar in phases since December last year. Bangladesh Navy implemented the Tk 3,100 crore housing project after some 750,000 Rohingyas had fled a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017 and took shelter in the camps in Teknaf and Ukhia.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, who was infected with coronavirus, has a very nominal lung infection, said her doctor and party vice-chairman AZM Zahid after receiving her provisional HRCT scan report. Talking to reporters at Evercare Hospital in the city, where the BNP chief underwent the high-resolution CT test, he said the BNP chief's medical board decided to perform the test to know the exact condition of her chest.

'We've already received a provisional report of the test. The report findings suggest her lung infection is very nominal. It's not even at the mild stage. The report is very good,' he added. He said now the medical board members will add any new medicine, if it is necessary, after discussions, adding, 'We need to monitor her condition round the clock as we can't say how corona will behave tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.' Zahid said they will observe her condition very meticulously over the next one week so that they can take necessary measures under any circumstances.

The newly elected Faruque Hassan-led board of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association took charge with the apparel sector facing tough challenges amid the coronavirus outbreak. The outgoing board handed over the charge at a programme in Dhaka. The new board will be at the helm of the trade body for the 2021-23 term. BGMEA president Faruque, the managing director of Giant Group, succeeds Rubana Huq, the first woman to lead the body.

He faces big challenges as the world struggles to free itself from the grip of coronavirus which has hit the global economy hard. The apparel sector saw orders of billions of dollars being cancelled during the pandemic last year. Thousands of jobs in the factories were also lost. The situation was improving gradually when the coronavirus situation worsened suddenly in Bangladesh. Maintaining Bangladesh's position as the second-largest exporter of RMG goods after China will be some of the key challenges of the Faruque-led board.

The government is going to bring about a drastic change in the Road Transport Act-2018, reducing fines stipulated under 11 sections and sentences under four sections. It is going to make two more sections -- related to overloading and medications of vehicles -- bailable offences, according to the draft amendment of the act. The law, if amended as per the draft, will lose its jurisdiction to hold a driver responsible for causing injuries by reckless and negligent driving. In that case, it will only be applicable when a victim dies in an accident.

Minimum educational qualifications required to obtain driving licences will also be changed. Drivers, who will operate registered three-wheelers, will get licences if he or she has a class-five certificate, instead of class eight, says the draft. Educational qualifications to obtain licences for driving other vehicles will remain unchanged.